Around 1960, leading figures in the international conservation circuit – such as Julian Huxley, Frank Fraser Darling and E. Barton Worthington – successfully propagated new visions about the value of undomesticated African mammals. Against traditional ideas, they presented these mammals as a highly efficient source of protein for growing African populations. In line with this vision, they challenged non-interventionist ideals of nature preservation, and launched proposals for active management through game ‘ranching’ and ‘cropping’. As such, they created a new socio-technical imaginary for Africa's future, in which the consumption of wildlife meat took up a central position. This article explores the motivations of Western conservationists for this drastic rebranding. It argues that the rationale of considering African wildlife in terms of protein played an important symbolical role at various levels. It was crucial in the reorganization of the transnational networks of conservation, but also in the boosting of their scientific reputation, in the restructuring of their institutional ties, and in their attempts to maintain an authoritative position for Western ecologists in a rapidly decolonizing world.

中文翻译：

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饮食游戏：蛋白质、国际保护和非洲野生动物的品牌重塑，1955-1965

1960 年左右，国际保护界的领军人物——如朱利安赫胥黎、弗兰克弗雷泽达林和 E.巴顿沃辛顿——成功地宣传了关于未驯化的非洲哺乳动物价值的新愿景。与传统观念不同，他们将这些哺乳动物作为不断增长的非洲人口的高效蛋白质来源。根据这一愿景，他们挑战了自然保护的非干预主义理想，并通过游戏“牧场”和“种植”提出了积极管理的建议。因此，他们为非洲的未来创造了一个新的社会技术想象，其中野生动物肉的消费占据了中心位置。本文探讨了西方环保主义者进行这种剧烈品牌重塑的动机。它认为，从蛋白质的角度考虑非洲野生动物的理由在各个层面都发挥了重要的象征作用。这对于重组跨国保护网络、提升其科学声誉、重组其机构关系以及在快速非殖民化的世界中保持西方生态学家的权威地位至关重要。