In the past decade, Sri Lanka has been engulfed by political tragedy as successive governments have failed to settle the grievances of the Tamil minority in a way acceptable to the majority Sinhala population. The new Premadasa presidency faces huge economic and political problems with large sections of the island under the control of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) and militant separatist Tamil groups operating in the north and south. This book is not a conventional political history of Sri Lanka. Instead, it attempts to shed fresh light on the historical roots of the ethnic crisis and uses a combination of historical and anthropologial evidence to challenge the widely-held belief that the conflict in Sri Lanka is simply the continuation of centuries of animosity between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The authors show how modern ethnic identities have been made and re-made since the colonial period with the war between Tamils and the Sinhala-dominant government accompanied by rhetorical wars over archeological sites and place-name etymologies, and the political use of the national past. The book is also one of the first attempts to focus on local perceptions of the crisis and draws on a broad range of sources, from village fieldwork to newspaper controversies. Its interest extends beyond contemporary politics to history, anthropology and development studies.

Table of Contents:

M. Naveh-Benjamin, M. Moscovitch, H.L. Roediger, III, Prologue/Preface. Part I: Levels of Processing and MemoryTheory.M.J. Watkins, Introduction. E. Tulving, Does Memory Encoding Exist? H.L. Roediger, III, D.A. Gallo, Levels of Processing: Some Unanswered Questions. B.M.Velichkovsky, Levels of Processing: Validating the Concept J.M. Gardiner, A. Richardson-Klavehn, C. Ramponi,B.M Brooks, Involuntary Levels of Processing Effects in Perceptual and Conceptual Priming. B.A. Levy, Fluent Text Processing: Using Memory Representations to Explore Reading Skills. R.S. Lockhart, Discussion. Part II: Working Memory and Attention.M.T. Turvey, Introduction. Working Memory. A.D. Baddeley, Levels of Working Memory. T. Shallice, Deconstructing "Retrieval Mode". Working Memory and Aging. J.M. McDowd, Levels of Processing in Selective Attention and Inhibition: Age Differences and Similarities. D.C. Park, T. Hedden, Working Memory and Aging. M. Daneman, Discussion. Attention at Encoding and Retrieval. M. Moscovitch, Divided Attention, Memory and Neuropsychology. M. Naveh-Benjamin, The Effects of Divided Attention on Encoding Processes: Underlying Mechanisms. N.D. Anderson, The Attentional Demands and Attentional Control of Encoding and Retrieval. C.M.MacLeod, Discussion. Part III: Aging.A.S. Benjamin, Introduction. Age-related Changes in Memory. L.L. Jacoby,E.L. Marsh, P.O. Dolan, Forms of Bias: Age Related Differences in Memory. L-G. Nilsson, Aging, Cognition, and Health. E.L. Glisky, Source Memory, Aging, and the Frontal Lobes. Age-related Changes in Perception and Cognition. T.A. Salthouse, The Broader Context of Craik's Self Initiated Processing Hypothesis. L. Hasher, S.T.Tonev, C. Lustig, Inhibitory Control, Environmental Support, and Self-initiated Processing in Aging. B.A.Schneider, Sensation, Cognition, and Levels of Processing in Aging. L.L. Light, Discussion. Part IV: NeurosciencePerspectives: Memory and Aging. Memory and Aging. A.Randal McIntosh, Introduction. C.L. Grady, Age-related Changes in the Functional Neuroanatomy of Memory. D.T.Stuss, M.A. Binns, Aging: Lot an Escarpment, but Multiple Slopes. P. Vidailhet, B.K. Chrisensen, J.M Danion, S.Kapur, Episodic Memory Impairment in Schizophrenia: A View from Cognitive Psychopathology. W. Koutstaal, D.L.Schacter, Memory Distortion and Aging. G. Winocur, Discussion.