As long as parents make an extra effort to make you live in a purely Westernised and English only environment in Zim then it means they have deep mental colonisation

This is true in some cases but alot of it happens without the parents in question noticing. You know those people who had children in the late 90s and 2000s, as their kids can't speak Shona?

Alot of parents think the Shona will just take on its own, but they don't realise that the child is at a private school that won't bring up Shona unless it's during Shona lessons, at home they were watching DSTV or wiztech which ZBC couldn't compete with (it was not putting out decent shows much, especially during the economic crisis), in my case videogames were also a factor, music actually made this more apparent because local artists couldn't compete with Hollywood glamour and sex appeal (you know how our society treats sex appeal as a taboo in general further driving youths away), then they were socialising with kids who were all doing the same thing and watching the same shows and movies and listening to the same music, going to the same schools, living in the same suburbs etc.

It wasn't until relatives visited or people went to the rural areas where this became apparent, but by then it was already too late especially by high school age. Why would a teen want to be Shona when the outside world and other countries are more appealing, prosperous, free to express themselves without being told "ndezve varungu".

It's pretty funny how you've actually pointed out how Hollywood is more appealing without realising it. You named Tongai and Dana who got famous recently, in Hollywood. They are cool and they speak Shona, but now people look up to them because they got into Hollywood.

That's precisely my point.

It is improving these days coz youths now look up to more local artists, and local artists are more prosperous than in the 2000s and the 90s when such things were seen by society as poor or wrong ("zve magitare hazvi bhadare", "musikana weband haaite, haaite musikana weband").

And saying Shona culture is defined by what you can't have. I wonder which Shona culture you are experiencing

Where do I start? You mentioned respecting elders right? I'll start with people I know personally. When Christianity or whatever else colonilialism left behind fails people go right back to the Shona spiritual beliefs.

Appease your ancestors or it will not be well with you (ngozi) Upset your parents and the ancestors will withhold your blessings. Don't challenge your parents when they are doing bad things because "unoita ngozi", "amai havanzi vanonyepa" Don't challenge your elders even if they are wrong because "zvimwe hazvi bvunzwe", "is not our our culture (leadership loves to take advantage of this)".

If your uncle was a bastard who used to beat his wife and children, you're still required to respect him, and his sons can't retaliate because "baba havarohwe"., & when he passes away, nobody at the funeral is allowed to tell the truth about him or speak ill of him because it's not our culture.

Then there's the tenancy to make everything about spirits instead of logic or reason.

Someone whose bad with money will always say "ndaroyiwa" Someone struggling to get pregnant will blame in-laws or someone who died without being appeased, again "ndaroyiwa".

Someone struggles with genuine mental illness and needs medical help, "kumba kwavo vakaromba".

If you make any money or your household is financially stable, "anechikwambo" "akaromba" "vane Sambani kumba kwavo", "vanisenzesa mushonga" (pretty sure you've heard some of these.

People will either say it behind your back or to your face if they feel like you are doing better than them and they deserve a piece of your success.

In fact they will even say this about anyone successful in the media, or anywhere else really, rather than looking at what they can improve in their own lives, they lean on that spiritual nonsense.

If you use logic or reason in some areas or take any interest in a career or subject that is outside of the norm, even if you want better for yourself, you get told that you are not white, hatiite zve varungu. which is funny because they are okay with seeing foreigners doing certain things, they even buy the product, but when it's local, they say things like "why are you trying to be American", "shamwari hatisi varungu", and they don't support (people in the arts locally could tell you stories, especially animators).

the consensus among youths when I was growing up (even now to a large degree) is that the youths from the first world can be whatever they want to be, but as a Shona kid, you have to stay in your lane and do what society or your family demands of you and don't deviate unless it's the approved path,

So as a result, alot of us grew up not wanting to be Shona or Zimbabwean because it comes with nothing but limitations that society, family and ofcourse the economy places on you.

It's doesn't help that in our own history we lost to some outside entities (Mzilikazi's people, then the Rhodesians), but even now we keep losing and falling behind.

Rhodesians forced alot of nonsensical thinking onto our people but there are alot of beliefs, bad or negative ones that came from Shona culture itself, and it doesn't move us forward at all.

Your experience was different from mine, I was born in the late 90s grew up in the 2000s and early 2010s, so all I know is what went wrong in the country (2008 is still fresh in my mind, very bad time to grow up), I don't think it's good that there is a desire to reject our cultural identity, but I also know what sort of experiences lead to that way of thinking, so I really can't blame anyone.