Matonti attended the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles in Sèvres, from 1978 to 1983.
"La Nouvelle Critique", une revue du pcf (1967-1980), and was conducted under the supervision of Évelyne Pisier.
She devoted her doctoral research to the Nouvelle Critique (fr), which was the intellectual journal of the French Communist Party from 1948 until 1980.
[2] Specifically, she studied the way that the intellectuals' obedience to the party manifested in and was encouraged by the journal.
She participated in the collective enterprise of "La Misère du monde" as part of her research on the National Rally, wrote a biography of the revolutionary Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, and worked on the political professionalization of women.