Helena Fietz

Helena Fietz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography & Anthropology at Louisiana State University (LSU), serving as Faculty Advisor to the Geography and Anthropology Undergraduate Society. Her work focuses on disability studies, care practices, and intersections with public policy in Brazil and the U.S., emphasizing gender, race, class, and generational dynamics. She holds a PhD (2020), MA (2016) from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and a LLB (2008) from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul.

Her research explores medical anthropology, science and technology studies, and critical disability frameworks. Key themes include health inequities, caregiving temporalities, and the sociolegal dimensions of disability. Recent work examines pandemic impacts on caregiving spaces and policy wait times affecting mothers of adults with intellectual disabilities.

Publications span journals like Cadernos Pagu and Disability Studies Quarterly, with a 2023 Space and Culture article on pandemic caregiving. Awards and grants are not explicitly listed, but her interdisciplinary approach bridges ethnography with policy analysis. She advises students through LSU’s Geography & Anthropology programs and collaborates in research groups like the Louisiana Office of State Climatology and Technology-Intensive Geospatial and Remote Sensing (TIGeRS) Lab.