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Abstract
Abstract: This dissertation is an investigation into the tool of moral imagination in the service of social justice. Supported by the philosophies of David Purpel, Maxine Greene, and John Dewey, this analysis is engaged through six themes examined through the text of David Simon's series, The Wire. These themes supply a foundation for how we might more thoroughly engage with moral imagination on a daily basis because there is a crisis in our culture around how we value the lives of all people. Themes presented in this discussion are: (1) The idea that everybody matters; (2) A changing notion of truth; (3) Thoughtlessness and banality; (4) Wide-awakeness and not taking things for granted; (5) Asking critical questions; and lastly, (6) People claiming responsibility. Applying these themes to specific textual examples excerpted from a dramatized television serial creates a space to discuss prophetic in-betweenness to interrogate and examine situations of systemic dysfunction and economic injustice outside of a fictional space.