diff --git a/crates/ruma-serde/CHANGELOG.md b/crates/ruma-serde/CHANGELOG.md
index fa3aac2e..df3f20ce 100644
--- a/crates/ruma-serde/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/crates/ruma-serde/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # [unreleased]
 
+Improvements:
+
+* Make `Raw::deserialize` & `Raw::deserialize_as` more general
+
 # 0.4.1
 
 Improvements:
diff --git a/crates/ruma-serde/src/raw.rs b/crates/ruma-serde/src/raw.rs
index 0c53cd68..1f9de598 100644
--- a/crates/ruma-serde/src/raw.rs
+++ b/crates/ruma-serde/src/raw.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ use std::{
 };
 
 use serde::{
-    de::{Deserialize, DeserializeOwned, Deserializer, IgnoredAny, MapAccess, Visitor},
+    de::{Deserialize, Deserializer, IgnoredAny, MapAccess, Visitor},
     ser::{Serialize, Serializer},
 };
 use serde_json::value::RawValue;
@@ -127,21 +127,19 @@ impl<T> Raw<T> {
         deserializer.deserialize_map(SingleFieldVisitor::new(field_name))
     }
 
-    /// Try to deserialize the JSON as a custom type.
-    pub fn deserialize_as<U>(&self) -> serde_json::Result<U>
+    /// Try to deserialize the JSON as the expected type.
+    pub fn deserialize<'a>(&'a self) -> serde_json::Result<T>
     where
-        U: DeserializeOwned,
+        T: Deserialize<'a>,
     {
         serde_json::from_str(self.json.get())
     }
-}
 
-impl<T> Raw<T>
-where
-    T: DeserializeOwned,
-{
-    /// Try to deserialize the JSON as the expected type.
-    pub fn deserialize(&self) -> serde_json::Result<T> {
+    /// Try to deserialize the JSON as a custom type.
+    pub fn deserialize_as<'a, U>(&'a self) -> serde_json::Result<U>
+    where
+        U: Deserialize<'a>,
+    {
         serde_json::from_str(self.json.get())
     }
 }