Tunisian Peasants in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

by Lucette Valensi

An historian of the Annales school, Lucette Valensi blends the methods of history and anthropology to portray the Tunisian countryside in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which has been previously little-studied. She analyses the nomadic tribes and the sedentary peasants, discussing their social organisation, their economic activity, and their cultural practices. She also explores the changes that affected both the peasantry and the Tunisian state in the nineteenth century, showing how the country's incorporation into the capitalist world economy led to social unrest, and eventually to the general rebellion of 1864 that precipitated the establishment of a French protectorate, thus placing Tunisia in a role of dependence and heralding underdevelopment.

277 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1977

About the author

Lucette Valensi (born 1936) is a French historian née Lucette Chemla in Tunis.