His research and teaching focuses on human rights, memory, and social movements. Trained as a Latin Americanist, with a specialty in Brazilian history, he is now working on global questions of memory, violence, and transitional justice. He is the author of five books, including, most recently, Searching for Memory: Alu铆zio Palmar and the Shadow of Dictatorship (UNC Press, 2025), which won the best book prize from the Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council in Canada, the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK, and the National Endowment for the Humanities in the US. Professor Blanc has a background in journalism and also served as a research consultant for truth commission reports in Brazil and Colombia.