After obtaining her bachelor's degree in history from the Sorbonne in 1958, she became a history and geography agrégée in 1963 then docteur d'État in early modern period in 1974. She joined the French Communist Party for a while, then became involved in the anticolonialism that had moved her from support to the Algerian National Liberation Front to that of the Comité Vietnam national [fr].[2]
She began her teaching and research career in Tunisia between 1960 and 1965. After this North African experience, she was successively maître de conférences at the Paris 8 University between 1969 and 1978, then Director of Studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris), where she directed the Centre de recherches historiques from 1992 to 1996 before creating and directing the Institut d'études de l'islam et des sociétés du monde musulman [fr] from 2000 to 2002. She also remains an associate member of the Centre de recherches historiques.[3]
Fellahs tunisiens: l'économie rurale et la vie des campagnes aux 18e et 19e siècles, Paris, Mouton, 1977.[7]
On the Eve of Colonialism: North Africa Before the French Conquest, London, Africa publications, 1982
The Last Arab Jews. The communities of Djerba, Tunisia, Harmond Academic Publishers, 1984 ("The last Arab Jews"), translated under the title Juifs en terre d'Islam. Les communautés de Djerba, Éditions des Archives contemporaines, 1985, in collaboration with Abraham L. Udovitch.[8]