Illicit indebtedness: stigmatization and the making of Roma as ‘invasive’ home-makers in post-financial crisis Hungary

There is significant research on authoritarian power and housing debt globally, yet less is known about how debt stigma evolves over time as a vehicle of authoritarian power. Through the case of Hungary, this paper analyzes how a government-backed foreign-denominated mortgage loan called the Fészekrakó hitel (‘homemaker’ credit), introduced in the mid-2000s, evolved from a site of victimhood nationalism by successive Viktor Orbán led Fidesz-KDNP governments, to a figure of invasive migrancy and illicit indebtedness within provincial cities. By interrogating the subnational level, within the city of Miskolc, this paper shows how the ‘Fészekrakó’ is manufactured as a figure of illicitness – a Roma person, of invasive, and financially insolvent migrancy – through phases of stigmatization. Drawing from long-term qualitative research in Miskolc, this paper argues that stigmatization processes are essential affective and discursive components of authoritarian consolidation, and by elucidating moments of stigma production, theorizes how authoritarian practices embed in daily life.