Between Translanguaging and Gender‐Justice: Teaching Kim de l'Horizon's Blutbuch in the Tertiary German Classroom

• Published in: Die Unterrichtspraxis
• Main Author: Lang, Birgit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; German
• Published: 24.07.2025
• ISSN: 0042-062X; 1756-1221
• DOI: 10.1111/tger.70026

This article examines how tertiary language learners of German engaged with the novel Blutbuch (2022) by Swiss author Kim de l'Horizon. Celebrated as the first nonbinary novel in German literature, excerpts of this autofictional text were taught in a 3‐week unit, which was part of a semester‐long German course targeted at university students at the C1 proficiency level. Blutbuch formed the basis of the final teaching unit in a course on language, the self, and identity. In its first inception in 2023, the unit was taught through a student‐led translanguaging framework, which highlighted the interconnections between cultural and gender identity. However, this approach left students with a certain degree of insecurity regarding the use of gender‐just language, both in the German‐speaking world and in the novel. The adapted reiteration of the unit made gender‐just language more central, which led to students’ deeper engagement with spoken gender‐just language. On both occasions, students were able to formulate confident and differentiated positions in their use of gender‐just language in their discussion of Blutbuch . The article thus contributes to our understanding of the ways in which language users engage with nonbinary literature and gender‐just language in the tertiary German classroom.