{"id":15510,"date":"2014-09-08T08:30:55","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T12:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/?p=15510"},"modified":"2026-05-06T13:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:28:17","slug":"empire-state-mind-spotlight-danielle-kinsey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2014\/empire-state-mind-spotlight-danielle-kinsey\/","title":{"rendered":"An empire state of mind: Spotlight on Danielle Kinsey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        An empire state of mind: Spotlight on Danielle Kinsey\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<p>By Cassandra Hendry<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout history, some of the greatest empires have risen and sometimes fallen, like Rome, Britain and the Ottomans. All empires have one thing in common; they changed the world we live in today. But Danielle Kinsey, a history professor at Carleton, thinks there\u2019s another similarity: there\u2019s so much to learn from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That idea is what has translated Kinsey\u2019s teaching into award-winning work. As the recipient of a 2014 New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, she\u2019s lived up to her accolades by showing her students just how interesting the history of empires can be, sometimes in unorthodox ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very interested in popular culture today and how empires are depicted in our pop culture,\u201d Kinsey says. \u201cI let students do projects that critique that. I get a lot of [papers on] Star Wars and the video game Age of Empires.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason why Kinsey strays from the usual history-based teachings is simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHistory is full of facts and I de-emphasize the facts and am more interested in structures, how power works and these larger concepts. Students get more into it this way, instead of just memorizing a bunch of facts,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the classroom, clarity is key. Kinsey tries to be as creative as possible while still being direct with students as to what will be on a test. She says it\u2019s very satisfying for students that this teaching style gives them peace of mind while still keeping them interested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStudents appreciate clarity and, if nothing else, that\u2019s what I deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Examining ancient empires isn\u2019t her only specialty. Kinsey focuses on empires that are a bit closer to home, too, giving her students another way to relate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI used to teach in the U.S. and there it\u2019s easier to convince students that the British empire may have made a few missteps,\u201d she says. \u201cIn Ontario, it\u2019s a little more pro-empire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Teaching students that are surrounded by the remnants of the former British empire\u2019s strong influence in Canada has produced results. Kinsey says she\u2019s received a much more diverse spectrum of opinion about empires with her students at Carleton than in other places. Opinions have led to discussions, which have led to better-informed and engaged students. And for Kinsey, that\u2019s exactly the outcome she had in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Cassandra Hendry Throughout history, some of the greatest empires have risen and sometimes fallen, like Rome, Britain and the Ottomans. All empires have one thing in common; they changed the world we live in today. But Danielle Kinsey, a history professor at Carleton, thinks there\u2019s another similarity: there\u2019s so much to learn from them. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"null"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40692,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15510\/revisions\/40692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}