(Re)AniMa | Cascadia – Recognizing and Revisiting Animate Matter

(Re)AniMa | Cascadia is a project for creative reuse developed in 2026 by Dr. Angela Molloy Murphy for a course at Capilano University: Children, Place, and Waste. (Re)AniMa | Cascadia is inspired by ReMida Reggio, a creative reuse center in Reggio Emilia Italy established in 1996, and the hundreds of creative reuse projects that have emerged since, including Inventing ReMida Portland Project (IRPP) and ECPN and ECBC’s ongoing RE:MATERIA program in Canada.

“We” are in this together, but we are not one and the same – Rosi Braidotti, 2020

The purpose of (Re)AniMa | Cascadia is to recognize the liveliness of waste materials as multimatter presences and revisit them in early childhood contexts and beyond as an approach to planetary care (Molloy Murphy, 2024). In the pursuit of social, ecological, and planetary justice, waste can be a theoretical and practical companion, inviting us to consider what is commonly discarded and what is treasured…and why. (Molloy Murphy, 2020). Cascadia is invoked in the project title to invite partnerships in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and the city of Portland, where Angela first found her way to this work at IRPP with William Parnell, Michelle Domingues, and Ellie Justice. As plastic discards cannot be contained to the bin, (Re)AniMa | Cascadia, too will transgress borders; from university project to public pedagogy, from sustainability initiative to social and political proposal, from the theoretical to the experiential.

Inaugural event:

Inspired by annual ReMida Day events in Reggio Emilia and similar celebrations around the world, the first (Re)AniMa | Cascadia event: ReMida Day: Reimagining Planetary Care with Children, Place, and Waste was held June 13, 2026 at Capilano University and several sites across BC. In the summer intensive Arts-based Inquiry with Children, Place, and Waste, Capilano University’s Early Childhood Care and Education students created waste-based encounters inviting children, educators, families, and fellow students to explore speculative possibilities for place-waste relations on stolen land.

To inquire about (Re)AniMa | Cascadia: Contact Angela at angelamolloymurphy@capilano.ca

References

Braidotti, R. (2020). Journal of bioethical inquiry, 17(4), 465-469.

Molloy Murphy, A. (2024). What world is knocking? Responding to a world in crisis with polyphonic storying. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 40(2), 322-339.

Molloy Murphy, A. (2020). Plastic City: A Small-Scale Experiment for Disrupting Normative Borders. eceLINK Common Worlding in Early Childhood Education Special Issue, 4(1), 14