Fostering empathy and social justice through a culturally responsive approach to reading

The book Culturally Responsive Reading: Teaching Literature for Social Justice by Durthy A. Washington provides educators with an incisive approach to analyzing multicultural texts through the “four keys to culture”: Language, Identity, Space, and Time, or the LIST Paradigm. This framework offers students and teachers a guided approach to critically analyze literature and “bridge the gap between the conventional study of literature and the new multi-cultural literature that is being taught”. It also asks students to examine their own cultural backgrounds and perspectives of the world around them and how that influences their interpretation of the text. The LIST Paradigm strives to ensure that teachers and students stay true to the author's intent and cultural perspective when critically approaching their literary works.