Cael Leigh Whalen

Latine person with side shave and medium-length hair in black blazer with white blouse

Sociocultural Anthropology PhD Student

they/them

My research centers around what I've termed "neuroqueer magic." I'm looking at how re-claiming traditional and esoteric spiritual practices provide sites of resistance for queer, trans, and neurodivergent people. I have engaged in fieldwork in Vietnam, Thailand, Norway, Sweden, and the United States

Education and Degree(s)
  • BA English Literature, Swarthmore College
Honors and Awards
  • Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Study of Religion
  • Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies
  • Disability/Neuroqueer Theory
  • Southeast Asia Studies
  • Popular Music Studies
Publications
  • Whalen, Cael. In Press. “Changeling Magic: Actualizing Neuroqueer Spirit-Power” Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies.
  • Whalen, Cael. 2026. “Heathen Pilgrimages: Women and Nonbinary People Finding Spiritual Belonging within Black Metal and Neofolk.” In Strategies of Resistance in Metal Music, Culture, and Scholarship: Feminist Metal, edited by Jasmine Hazel Shadrack and Francesca Stevens. Routledge.
  • Whalen, Cael. 2024. “Goth Subculture, Neurodivergence, and the Dark Power of Changeling Narratives.” In Heavy Metal and Disability: Crips, Crowds, and Cacophonies, edited by Jasmine Hazel Shadrack and Keith Kahn-Harris. Advances in Metal Music and Culture. Intellect.
Membership and Service
  • Association of Queer Anthropologists of the American Anthropological Association
  • Disability Research Interest Group of the American Anthropological Association
  • The Council on Heritage and Tourism of the American Anthropological Association
  • Consultant, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network
  • Consultant, Advocates for Transgender Equality

Tags

Sociocultural Wing