Mark Ortiz – Studying Religion in Culture

Notes on Surviving and/or Flourishing in Graduate School

December 14, 2016 by admin

Mark Ortiz (far left) graduated from the University of Alabama in May 2015 with degrees in Religious and Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Geography at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he studies the connections between global climate politics and ethics. Survival…, what a dreary thought. As a climate change researcher, the concept of survival calls to mind dystopian images of underground bunkers, moribund ecosystems, and tough political trade-offs. Graduate school, while taxing, is (or should be) considerably […]

What We Claim to Be

March 10, 2015 by admin

Mark Ortiz is a senior double-majoring in Religious Studies and New College with a depth study in Political Ecology. He is especially interested in climate politics and that bundle of things and stuff we call “nature.” Continuing a project I recently blogged about, I decided to make use of the American Academy of Religion’s (AAR) online “Syllabus Project”: a database of syllabi submitted voluntarily by professors and teachers in the field. I was looking for “Introduction to Religious Studies” course […]

Our Interpretive Introductory Courses

February 19, 2015 by admin

Mark Ortiz is a senior double-majoring in Religious Studies and New College with a depth study in Political Ecology. He is especially interested in climate politics and that bundle of things and stuff we call “nature.” As part of an independent study this semester, I’ve been very busy chatting to professors in the department about their approaches to teaching the introductory course in our discipline. I found this assignment especially timely, as I am slated to begin a graduate program […]

Book Review: Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome

January 8, 2015 by admin

Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome. Jack J. Lennon. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. 229 pages. Mark Ortiz is a senior majoring in Religious Studies and New College with a depth study in Political Ecology. This review was written as a final project as part of Dr. Sarah Rollens’ course, REL 237: Religion and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World. In many societies, concepts of social order have been shaped considerably by notions of purity and pollution. According to […]