ntified it will be emphasised that any definition of racism it dependent on the context in which it used. As such, each form of racism needs to be considered in its historical specificity!
             The original definition and use of the word racism arose from the growing concern over the way in which the discourse of race was being used to legitimate the exclusion and genocide of Jews in Nazi Germany (Miles 1989: 43; Solomos & Black 1996: 4). Throughout the nineteenth century, Jews were identified as ritual murderers, wanderers, and conspirators with the intention of world domination (Miles 1989: 58). Such representations were revitalised and given new force through the idea of race. Hence, it became imperative for social scientists and political activists to formulate a coherent rejection of the concept of race (Miles 1989: 43). After intensive research of the discourse of race, it was concluded that racism was a falsification of the scientific knowledge about human biology: 'Racism falsely claims that there is a scientific basis for arranging groups hierarchically in terms of psychological and cultural characteristics that are immutable and innate' (Miles 1989: 46). Hence, scientific evidence clearly showed that it was no longer valid to categorise individuals on the basis of race because the idea of race no longer had a real object (Miles 1993: 3). In light of the racial theory of the time, Benedict (1942, cited in Miles 1989: 44) also defined racism as 'the dogma that one group is condemned by nature to congenital inferiority and another group is destined to congenital superiority.' Hence, the concept of racism referred to a set of claims that were contrary to the scientific evidence and which therefore constituted a denial of science (Miles 1989: 47). Banton (1970, cited in Miles 1989: 47) repeated the essence of Benedict's definition. He defined racism as 'the doctrine that a man's behavio...