Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Texas State University
Web Producer, Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
Research Interests
Business Anthropology | Design Anthropology | Digital Anthropology | Entrepreneurship | Expertise | Feminist STS | Foresight | Futures | Infrastructure | Innovation | Science & Technology Studies | Sweden | Web Technologies |
About Angela
I'm a sociocultural anthropologist researching technologies, innovation, and business as an assistant professor at Texas State University. In addition to a PhD in anthropology, I have more than thirteen years of experience as an applied anthropologist in information technologies, design, marketing, and organizational strategy. My work sits at the intersection of business and design anthropology and science and technology studies. I examine how ambitions for better futures by states, citizens, and entrepreneurs are shaped by innovation culture and its infrastructures. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in Stockholm’s "unicorn factory" entrepreneurial ecosystem, revealing the interplay between hype stories and innovation practice.
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Contributions to Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
View all of Angela's posts on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.
Platypod, Episode Five: CASPR – CASTAC in the Spring 2022
This episode presents a recording of CASPR 2022, or the CASTAC in the Spring 2022 event, which took place on May 10, 2022. CASPR 2022 was organized to encourage dialogue on breaking down binaries that have separated academe and industry. Angela VandenBroek (TXST), Melissa Cefkin (Waymo), and Dawn Nafus (Intel) discuss their work in leading socially-informed research in industry contexts. (more…) (read more...)
A Very Lengthy Swedish Introduction: Hype, Storytelling, and the Question of Entrepreneurial Allies
At a Stockholm-based entrepreneur meetup, two entrepreneurs stood on stage ready to pitch their startup to a panel of venture capital investors (VCs). The man clicked the laptop button to display their first slide—a large image of their logo. “Hello! I am Per and this is Jonna and this is our startup, Forests! We are on a mission to understand the world’s forests and their inhabitants.” Jonna moved to the second slide and told the story of an endangered forest-dwelling animal. On the next slide, Per talked more specifically about the importance of the world’s forests to global climate change. On the fourth slide, the endangered animal appeared again. “Oh, this guy again!” the event’s moderator interrupted with an exaggerated tone of exhaustion. The entrepreneurs laughed nervously and continued to talk about the grand mission of their company to support climate research with crowdsourced data from birders, amateur naturalists, and (read more...)