Narrative studies (comparative literature) is the academic field dedicated to the systematic analysis and comparison of narratives across diverse cultural, linguistic, historical, and media contexts. Situated within the discipline of comparative literature, it investigates the forms, structures, functions, and themes of storytelling as they manifest in various literary traditions (such as African literature), historical documents (like those found in European legal history), psychological processes (including memory and drawing on psycholinguistics), and different media (including screenwriting). This approach utilizes and contributes to narrative theory by examining how narratives operate, circulate, and are interpreted across boundaries, thereby illuminating both universal aspects of human storytelling and variations specific to particular contexts and traditions.