인삼의 세계사: 서양이 은폐한 '세계상품' 인삼을 찾아서

Most accounts of ginseng treat it as an exclusively East Asian commodity, and are dominated by the natural sciences. Ginseng, however, was an important world commodity in the early modern period which encompass the West and the East ever since. The discussion on ginseng encompassed not only botanical and medical interests, but also discourses on the commercial marketability of ginseng. Ginseng was a notable item which could challenge the scheme of 'modern world system.' Ginseng was also an item that embodied European prejudices, symbolizing perceived ‘differences’ between the West and East. As such, ginseng was an ‘indigenous’ item of ‘the East’ that was much discussed in ‘the West’, but one that resisted assimilation into its systems of knowledge as well as Western market.