Katja Mellmann

PD Dr. Katja Mellmann is a Scientific Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt am Main, where she holds a Heisenberg Position since 2020. She maintains an adjunct professor status (Privatdozentin) at LMU Munich's Institute for German Philology. Her academic trajectory includes interim professorships at TU Darmstadt (2022-2023), Ruhr University Bochum (2021-2022), and Bielefeld University (2019-2020). Previously, she was a Dilthey Fellow at the University of Göttingen (2010-2018) and visiting scholar at Ohio State University's Project Narrative (2009-2010).

Mellmann earned her Habilitation (2014) and PhD (2005) from LMU Munich, following an MA in German and French Languages and Literatures (2000). She serves as co-editor of the book series Poetogenesis: Studies and Texts on the Empirical Anthropology of Literature and was on the editorial board of Frontiers in Psychology (Evolutionary Psychology section, 2010-2023).

Her research integrates literary theory with evolutionary psychology, examining the biological foundations of narrative, emotional responses to literature, and historical reception. Key areas include the anthropology of literary behavior, cognitive narratology, German literature of the 18th-19th centuries, and media history. She pioneers interdisciplinary approaches connecting philology with human sciences to understand literature's phylogenetic origins and cognitive mechanisms.

Mellmann's publications demonstrate sustained focus on evolutionary literary theory, narrative psychology, and German literary history. Recent works explore biological functions of poetic behavior, cognitive principles of storytelling, and quantitative reception studies. Her research consistently bridges historical analysis with contemporary cognitive science frameworks.

• Heisenberg-Programm der DFG (2020)
• Senior Fellowship, Marbach Weimar Wolfenbüttel Research Association (2017)
• DFG Research Grant (2008)
• Dilthey-Fellowship, Volkswagen Foundation (2008)
• Weimar Scholarship, Stiftung Weimarer Klassik (2005)

She directs the project Biological Anthropology of Literature: Phylogenetic Preconditions of Poetic Behavior, investigating language origins and narrative genres through evolutionary frameworks. Collaborating with Michelle Scalise Sugiyama (University of Oregon), she co-develops the Forager Folklore Database for cross-cultural narrative analysis. Her team includes doctoral researcher Jan Jokisch and student assistants.