The Fame of Trinis: Websites as Traps

Abstract

This article attempts to demonstrate the value and insightful nature of the recent work of Alfred Gell through an application of his theoretical ideas on both Art and Agency to the study of Trinidadian websites. It examines both personal and commercial websites produced by Trinidadians and explores how their contents and aesthetic forms strive to attract and trap certain surfers while escaping the attention of those surfers who are not its intended viewers. Websites create an expanded space-time in which on analogy with Kula operators, their owners seek to create their fame and disperse their social efficacy.