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In Memoriam

Eli Joy Manning

January 13, 1976 – January 17, 2025

It is with full, sad hearts we share that Eli Manning died on Friday, January 17th, 2025. In these last four months she was living with her beloved sister and chosen family in British Columbia as they cared for her through her illness.

Eli began as faculty at the School of Social Work in September 2017 and immediately was invested in all aspects of the school community. She brought her years of experience teaching at three other universities, her deep insights and rich scholarship in critical disability studies, queer politics, and health equity, and taught graduate and undergraduate courses, both campus and online. She was sought out for independent studies because students knew of her commitment to their learning about complex theoretical, policy, and practice dimensions in social work. Her energy for student engagement was unmatched, both through her teaching and her role as Accommodations Officer. She advocated for resources and pushed upon institutional norms, not afraid to name underlying assumptions and dated practices, whether they related to students, staff, or faculty. Her clarity in naming a good way forward was matched only by her passion in doing so; her commitment to make space for underrepresented voices was expressed congruently through what she said and how she behaved. She was clear and positioned as she named the learning and unlearning required of us all.  

Eli was a longstanding member of the School of Social Work Diversity & Equity Committee and a central contributor to its excellent challenging conversations panels and its drafting of retention policies that are being taken up across the Faculty of Health. She was a tireless advocate between the School-level and University accommodation processes, and helped advance faculty application of Universal Design for Learning approaches. Eli was quick to understand challenging dynamics and change processes and was solution focused in how to move forward. In these situations, she exercised her skill in separating system issues from the people operating within them; she balanced realism and pragmatism with optimism and through it all maintained her sunny smile.

Eli was an inaugural member of the »ÆÉ«Ö±²¥ Staff and Faculty (dis)Ability Caucus and served on the DFA Equity Committee. She was Visiting Scholar in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility in the Faculty of Medicine where she increased the anti-oppressive content in the curriculum and developed white fragility clinics for faculty. Eli was an Associate Research Scholar with the Healthy Populations Institute and Research Member with the Health Law Institute. Her research interests focussed on ethics and health at the intersection of the body, wherein she mobilized knowledge to benefit disenfranchised communities and provoke social change. Eli wove together feminist poststructuralism, critical race theory, Indigenous thought, critical social work, critical disability and HIV studies in partnering to bring focus on marginalized communities, improving culturally responsive and ethical practices in healthcare, and dismantling institutionalized systems of oppression. Hers was a brilliant, inspiring mind.

In addition to this expansive and progressive work, Eli was a generous and loving friend, an enthusiastic rower, a dog lover, an excellent cook and baker, and as well practiced with a hammer and nails as she was with a sewing machine. She threw herself into life in Halifax, making quiet personal connections as well as hosting boisterous gatherings and introducing new friends and colleagues at every turn, widening the circle of future collaborators in work and play. Her ideas were limitless. Her laughter was infectious. Her spirit knew no bounds. She leaves us far too soon.

Eli asked to be remembered through a donation to either Ìý´Ç°ùÌý.