The Female Genealogies of Grassroots Families: Mother-Daughter Relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Shanghai’s Workers’ New Villages in the New Era

Shedding light on grassroots families, this chapter studies the mother-daughter relationship, in tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai, with a focus on the socialist Workers’ New Villages (WNV), the low-income neighborhoods perceived as ghettos by the local dwellers. This chapter draws on an ethnographic study of six life histories with three pairs of mothers and daughters, as well as COVID-19 diaries written by five of the research participants. All women in the study endure different kinds of life challenges, including cancer, domestic violence, and unemployment. Based on the fieldwork materials, this chapter examines how the global pandemic has interrupted grassroots women’s everyday life through the lens of Lefebvre’s theorization on everydayness. This chapter discerns that the socialist infrastructure, established since the 1950s, persists in these villages, albeit China’s neoliberal shift. These “socialist remnants,” for instance, the neighborhood committees and the block leader system, have functioned as a supportive network for the elder women during these difficult times, wherein the younger generation is found struggling more than their mothers in the face of the global pandemic.