Linda Hiltunen

Linda Hiltunen, is a PhD student at the department of Sociology at Linneaus University, Sweden. Her dissertation project focuses on increased levels of ill-health – specifically psychosomatic complains – among students in upper secondary school in Sweden. In her dissertation project, Linda combines survey data with a systematic analysis of approximately 500 essays written by young pupils. The students were asked to write brief stories about their subjective health status, and the analysis of these narratives complements surveys when Linda strives at advancing the understanding of ill-health among Swedish adolescents. In addition, some of these young pupils have also been interviewed. Apart from working on her dissertation, Linda has also been involved in an international research project focusing on young and unemployed people in the Barents region. Also, Linda has taken part in project where she evaluated the implementation of a cultural policy initiative on the Swedish west coast – the mobile art exhibition, HER, by Candice Breitz - in cooperation with Västra Götlandsregionen and Riksutställningar. In doing this, she also studied responses of different audiences to this mobile art exhibition.