Kalle Westerling is a cultural theorist writing on theatre and politics, as well as new media, politics and art more broadly. He is currently a Ph.D. Student at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City and Stockholm University, Sweden, where he also has his M.A. from. His research project, "The Potential of Difference: Drag Show and the Aesthetics of Resistance" (working title for his Swedish dissertation), revolves around aesthetic strategies which drag queens use to express resistance against heteronormative power and norm structures.

Previously, he has written the book La dolce vita: Trettio år med drag, about the history of the thirty year history of Swedish drag show company After Dark. Previously, he has worked as a Research Assistant in a project examining the diva cult around Zarah Leander, and was a member of KUNQ, the first young queer theatre group in Sweden.