Faculty Profile for Dr. Angela VandenBroek
Dr. Angela VandenBroek
Assistant Professor — Anthropology
ELA 271A
phone: (512) 245-8272
Biography Section
Biography and Education
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 is now conducting research in the Central Texas Innovation Corridor between Austin and San Antonio.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 InfrastructureSelected Scholarly/Creative Work
- VandenBroek, A. K. (2024). Tactics for Anthropology + Design Beyond the Academic & Applied Binary. In C. Miller & J. M. Spears (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Practicing Anthropology and Design. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Practicing-Anthropology-and-Design/Spears-Miller/p/book/9781032374161
- VandenBroek, A. K., & Koycheva, L. (2024). Sandbox Innovation: Potentials and Impacts. Practicing Anthropology, 46(1), 36–45. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/08884552.2024.2307293
- VandenBroek, A. K. (2022). Pitching Hype: Storytelling and Entrepreneurship. In E. Liebow & J. C. McKenna (Eds.), Anthropology and Entrepreneurship: The Current State of Research and Practice (pp. 49–57). Arlington, VA, USA: American Anthropological Association with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Retrieved from https://entrepreneur.americananthro.org/
- Carnes, M., VandenBroek, A. K., & Brunson, E. K. (2024). Human Centered Design for Applied Anthropology. Annals of Anthropological Practice, 48(2), 168–185. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/napa.12223
- Taylor, N., & VandenBroek, A. K. (2024). Penciling: An Anonymization Method for Social Media Images. Field Methods, OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X241259941
Selected Awards
- Award / Honor Recipient: Award of Excellence for Dedicated Service and Outstanding Accomplishments, Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, & Computing in the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association. 2020
- Award / Honor Recipient: CLS ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award, College Libraries Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. 2010
- Award / Honor Recipient: Irmgard H. Wolfe Award for Best Graduate Paper in Anthropology, Department of Anthropology at the University of Southern Mississippi. 2008
- Award / Honor Recipient: Walton Boston Koch Distinguished Merit Scholarship, Department of Anthropology at Grand Valley State University. 2005
Selected Service Activities
Director
Innovative Anthropologies Lab
August 23, 2021-Present
Advisory Board Member
Silicon Island: Building Equitable Tech Futures in Out of the Way Places (Danish Research Fund)
2024-Present
Chair
Anthropology Brownbag & Speaker Series
August 22, 2024-Present
Member
Internship Committee
September 18, 2023-Present
Designer
Anthropology Promotion & Branding
August 20, 2021-Present