This is a comment on a special section of the journal Etnofoor concerning borders. Governed borders are a technique of power. The phrase ‘governed borders’ approximates the ‘physical borders’ proposed by the editors of the thematic issue, and the former term points usefully to unequal power relations in these spatial arrangements. However, ‘power’ is the starting point for questions (Wolf 1990), not a simple answer. An interesting question raised in each article is how a particular lived reality connects to wider power projects and relations. What sorts of nested contexts surround these observations of borders and bordering? I explore some of these possible connections.