Vern Abraham

Vern Abraham (they/she) graduated with a B.A. in Classics and a B.S. in Anthropology from Loyola University of Chicago in 2023. They also received a post-baccalaureate certificate in Classics from Columbia University in 2025 before coming to UCLA for their PhD. Her research interests broadly lie in embodiment and disability studies within Greek and Latin tragedy, such as the haptic and proxemic relationships the body has with its environment. Her classics thesis, “Disabled at Colonus: Narrative Prosthesis and Fleshly Extensions,” theorizes Antigone as an extension of Oedipus’s disabled body in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, and also argues that through Antigone’s use of the demonstrative and their shared haptic connection, Antigone and Oedipus’ bodies act as a hybrid form throughout the text. In their free time, Vern enjoys watching films, writing poetry, and showing everyone pictures of her two cats, Apollo and Artemis.