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The development of Folkloristics and Ethnology in Ireland may be considered in a framework that perceives disciplinary history as reflected in the careers of practitioners of the discipline. In particular, the story of the author’s own formation as a teacher/researcher is outlined to suggest the emergence of academic insight from a background of vernacular orality. The application of such insight to the practise of urban ethnology in Ireland is illustrated in terms of a research programme in urban ethnology on Cork’s Northside.