Angela Kristin VandenBroek

Details

Assistant Professor
Director of the Innovative Anthropologies Lab

Curriculum Vita

Education

Ph.D. Anthropology, Binghamton University, 2021
M.A. Anthropology, University of Southern Mississippi, 2010
B.S. Anthropology, Grand Valley State University 2005

Research Interests

science and technology studies (STS); feminist STS; business anthropology, design anthropology, applied anthropology; innovation; entrepreneurship; technologies; design; futures and foresight; expertise; ignorance and agnotology; and infrastructure

Bio

Angela (she/her) is a sociocultural anthropologist with a PhD in anthropology from Binghamton University. She has additionally worked as an applied anthropologist in design, branding, and information technologies since 2008—both within organizations and as a freelancer. Broadly speaking, her work sits at the intersection of business and design anthropology and science and technology studies and focuses on how ambitions for better futures by states, citizens and entrepreneurs are coopted and reformed by innovation culture and its infrastructures. She's conducted research in Stockholm Sweden’s startup and innovation ecosystem (#SthlmTech) and has started new research among entrepreneurs in the Texas innovation cooridor between Austin and San Antonio.

She is also the web producer for the Committee for the Anthropology of Science Technology and Computing (CASTAC) in the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association and a leader for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Apply Club in the Applied Anthropology Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists.

Recent Publications

VandenBroek, Angela K. 2022. “Pitching Hype: Storytelling and Entrepreneurship.” In Anthropology and Entrepreneurship - The Current State of Research and Practice, edited by Edward Liebow and Janine Chiappa McKenna, 49–58. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association.

VandenBroek, Angela Kristin. 2022. “Like Clockwork: Experts and Expertise in Stockholm’s Startup and Innovation Ecosystem.” Journal of Business Anthropology 11 (2). https://doi.org/10.22439/jba.v11i2.6780.

Recent Media

Platypod, Episode Five: CASPR – CASTAC in the Spring 2022 — This episode presents a recording of CASPR 2022, or the CASTAC in the Spring 2022 mentoring event, which took place on May 10, 2022. CASPRT 2022 was organized to encourage dialogue on breaking down binaries that have separated academe and industry. Angela VandenBroek (TXTS), Melissa Cefkin (Waymo), and Dawn Nafus (Intel) discuss their work in leading socially-informed research in industry contexts.

Angela VandenBroek on Anthropology in Business — In this episode of the Anthropology in Business podcast, Angela VandenBroek speaks with Matt Artz about her career as a business anthropologist. The conversation covers Angela’s journey from consulting and studying innovation, to teaching applied anthropology at Texas State University.