Marc Blanchard (12 October 1942 – 8 November 2009) was a professor of

Comparative Literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

and

Critical Theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. He was born in 1942 to a French father and French Jewish mother who were fleeing Nazi persecution and was brought up in Argentina and Egypt. The family returned to Paris after the war, where he earned a degree at the Sorbonne in 1965, in Agrégation de lettres classiques (Romance Languages, Comparative Literature, and Classics-“Sciences Humaines”). Prior to joining the University of California campus in 1971, Blanchard taught at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and Columbia. Though he was trained as a classics scholar, Blanchard's longstanding research interests were in

Semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

and the Critique of Culture. His articles and books included: ''La Révolution et les Mots'', ''Description: Sign, Self, Desire: Critical Theory in the Wake of Semiotics'', ''In Search of the City'' and ''Trois portraits de Montaigne''. He published more than seventy articles in major journals on topics of Theory, European, Latin American, Caribbean and especially Cuban Literature. He lectured at New York University (NYU),

CCNY The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 18 ...

UNC Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795 ...

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...

, Germany and received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1985. Blanchard also ran a

study abroad International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 million international ...

course in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, one of the few programs in the United States that did so at the time. Blanchard and Raquel Scherr created and taught a program entitled Americans in Paris, a month-long program in Paris run through the UC Davis Summer Abroad program. The program educated hundreds of students and was last taught by Blanchard/Scherr in 2008. Marc Blanchard died on November 8, 2009, after a long battle with cancer. He was married with one daughter.

References

1942 births 2009 deaths French expatriates in Egypt French expatriates in Argentina University of Paris alumni French emigrants to the United States American expatriates in Cuba Comparative literature academics Critical theorists University of California, Davis faculty Yale University faculty Columbia University faculty {{US-academic-bio-stub