Catherine Ramey's dissertation, "An Educational Mission: Gender, Schools, and Canadian Missionaries in Central Angola, 1880s–1920s," is the first history of the Canada Congregational Foreign Missionary Society (CCFMS) in Angola that interrogates the agendas of their mission education from the beginning of the West Central Africa (WCA) mission in the 1880s until the drastic expansion of its services in the 1920s. Her work combined archival research of missionary literature from the United Church of Canada Archives and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) collection at Houghton Library, Harvard University, with oral histories from former Angolan attendees, former North American missionaries, and their descendants.
Dr. Ramey examines mission education, focusing on missionary school curricula developed by the CCFMS in central Angola during this period. This missionary work emerged at the intersection of the interests of the CCFMS, the ABCFM, the Portuguese colonial government, and central Angolans. She explores the implications of the gendered and racist dimensions of the CCFMS’s mission agenda, especially industrial trades as “manly” occupations and domestic work as “appropriate” labour for girls and women. Drawing on transnational and global frameworks, Catherine argues that Angolans were integral to the establishment of the WCA mission – particularly mission stations operated by the Canadian missionaries. The mission itself, especially education, represented an adaptation and convergence of missionary and Angolan values, knowledges, and desires. Catherine shared the story of her first research and teaching visit to Angola in 2024 with the Tri-U.
Research data and findings
In the process of developing a research project, many sources are used and varying means of demonstrating what is learned are employed. Below are some items from Catherine's thesis that demonstrate both sources and findings.
Currie Institute Plaque: IECA (Igreja Evangélica Congregacional em Angola/Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola). Currie Institute of Dondi. Founded on 5 October 1914 (photo by Catherine Ramey, 2026).
This graph shows the number of students in attendance at the Canadian mission station of Chisamba, divided by gender. While boys (black bars) were usually the majority, girls (grey bars) had higher attendance in 1906 and 1908.
This graph shows the number of students in attendance at the different mission schools in the West Central Africa mission. The first station was Bailundo, hence its high attendance. The Canadian station and the focus of my dissertation is Chisamba, which was another mission with the highest attendance during this period.
IECA’s (Igreja Evangélica Congregacional em Angola) plaque commemorating American missionaries, located in Benguela, Angola, September 2024 (photo by Catherine Ramey, 2024). Translation of plaque text: Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola. (IECA). Historical landmark of 125 years of IECA, memorialising the arrival of the three American missionaries Bagster, Sander [sic] and Miller on 11 November 1880. Renewed on 24 September 2024 and reinaugurated by Rev. Luciano Chanhelela Chianeque, General Secretary of the IECA, during the jubilee celebration of the 100 years of the IECA in Benguela. Benguela, 28 September 2024.
Defence committee
Dr. Ramey defended her thesis on Friday, August 14, 2026 at the University of Waterloo. Her supervisor was Dr. Katherine Bruce-Lockhart, University of Waterloo. Her committee included Dr. Femi J. Kolapo, University of Guelph and Dr. Kristina Llewellyn, Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement, McMaster University and Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Wendy L. Fletcher, Professor, Culture and Language Studies, Renison University College/University of Waterloo served as the internal/external examiner. Dr. Mariana P. Candido, Winship Distinguished Research Professor of History, 2023–2026, Emory University, served as her external examiner.
Tri-U service
During Catherine's PhD studies, she was actively involved in the Tri-U community, serving as one of the Tri-University Graduate Students Association (TUGSA) co-presidents in 2022-2023 and as student chair of the 2023 Tri-U History conference held at Waterloo. She was also the creator of the online graduate student panel series that provided many students with an opportunity to present their research — particularly in the time immediately after COVID.
Future Plans
"In the immediate future, I plan to continue living in Angola, where I work as an English teacher," writes Catherine.
"I'm also working to translate my dissertation into Portuguese for Angolans to be able to access it, and I'm hoping to work towards getting my dissertation published as a book. I also have some plans for journal articles stemming from my PhD research, which I'm excited to get started on soon. I want to dive deeper into some of the Canadian missionaries' lives, like Rev. Walter T. Currie who presented himself as an "explorer" like Livingstone in the 1880s or the Melville sisters who lived in Angola for decades and did not marry."
While a PhD is a long and exhausting process, I'm grateful for the opportunities it has given me. Travelling to, and living in Angola have significantly changed my life for the better. I now have four cats and twenty-plus chickens as a result —plus a community of students, teachers, and friends.
