Trading Caterpillar Fungus in Tibet: When Economic Boom Hits Rural Area is based on my study of the economic boom that arose around the trade in caterpillar fungus, an expensive medicinal commodity in China, often called Himalayan Viagra. This research took me to one of the most sparsely populated parts of the Tibetan plateau, where for almost a year I lived and worked with Tibetan nomads at 4,000m altitude. All this I did in a difficult political climate and under a situation of growing surveillance in China following the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

This book remains one of the very few first-hand accounts of pastoral life in present-day Tibet. It answers the question of what it means to be a nomad in modern China and how one can benefit from the booming medicinal industry as a supplier of raw materials growing in the most extreme of mountain environments. After the Covid-19 pandemic, which further accelerated the development of the Asian medicine industry, this question has only gained importance.

Based on my PhD, for which I got the highest grade, summa cum laude, the book was published by Amsterdam University Press. It was entered for the ICAS (International Convention of Asia Scholars) book prize 2019 and got enthusiastic reviews. For book reviews and orders, visit https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462985261/trading-caterpillar-fungus-in-tibet.